Masked Men-An Era of Intimidation and Art

I’m a fan of hockey, and more specifically what I think is the hardest position in sports, the goalie.  I also think that while the goalie masks of today are awesome, the masks of yesterday are true works of art and intimidation.  So every so often I write about some of my favorites and the men behind the masks.  Here are a few of my favorites...don't worry I'll post others on a more regular basis as well!

Bernie Parent on the cover of TIME

This one is one of the most intimidating and scary in my opinion. It was worn famously by both Bernie Parent and later Pelle Lindbergh (both Flyers). The mask itself has an open canvass, which means anything can be projected on it, much like the infamous Michael Myers mask. Just look at it! All you get is the eyes (in the picture it’s Bernie Parent). And unlike the famous Jason Voorhees mask, this one is more angled and gives it a more angry vibe. Even with all the talented airbrushed artists out there, I have yet tosee a mask more intimidating today. Pelle’s story is a great but also sadly tragic one. Imagine your favorite team, position and player growing up…now imagine that you get drafted by that team, play that position and are coached by that favorite player of yours! That was Pelle’s path to stardom and greatness (drafted as the Flyers goalie and coached and befriended by Bernie Parent). He went on to win the Vezina Trophy in 1985, won the Bronze at the 1980 Olympics for Sweden, and holds to distinction as being the only goalie NOT to lose to the famed 1980 USA “Miracle on Ice” team that year. Sadly he died in 1985 after sustaining injuries in a horrendous car crash. He was kept alive long enough for his organs to be donated which his coach at the time called “the greatest save” a goalie could make. He was then the first player posthumously chosen for an All-Star game in North American sports that year. 

You are officially intimidated...just try to score on Pelle.

Another great vintage goalie mask. This one belongs to Gerry Cheevers. The cool thing about this mask is, every "stitch" that you see was painted on after that certain part of the mask was hit with a puck, stick or just beat up somehow. Wow, and to think goalies used to NOT wear masks.

Cheevers' "scars"

Cheevers in the crease.

In honor of the next round of the NHL Playoffs and the Rangers advancing, here's a nod to a legend of the NHL (and ex-NY Ranger) Gilles Gratton. Although he only played about 46 games in the NHL, he was very talented his "legend status" really came from his eccentric personality...supposedly hanging out after practice naked (and skating naked during one), talking in great detail about his past lives (he had been a soldier in the Spanish Inquisition), growling and hissing at opposing players who got to close to him, and most famously refusing to play if the moon was in the wrong part of the sky. 

Gratton...goalie...madman.

But to me, he is awesome for coming up with probably the coolest mask the NHL has ever seen. The "Tiger Mask".  Listen to the man tell the story of the "birth" of the tiger (mistakenly thought to be a lion by many) and Madison Square Garden's response at it's unveiling.

*growling/hissing noises*

MORE TO COME SOON!  Including the Holy Grail of masks...

Having fun.

You know that feeling you get when you hear something, see something, experience something that inspires you to the core?  Well I just got that feeling after listening to the band fun.'s debut album, "Aim and Ignite".  I mean, my God.  I hear ELO, The Beatles, Queen, Weezer, and Neutral Milk Hotel...but most importantly I hear a band totally finding a balance between those band and themselves.  I'm so excited and inspired that I don't know what to write...actually I just feel like anything I say won't properly convey the joy this album brings to me.  I feel like I'm way behind just discovering this band 44 minutes after midnight aka the day they release their second album.  Which is a great feeling and a blessing in disguise that I get to go pick up their second album later today and go into complete fun. overdrive.

This is as strong a debut as I've EVER heard.  This band is fearless, this band is the future.  The album is so damn powerful, and full of insane melodies, and inspiring lyrics.  I am so excited to discover this band.  I hope you discover them too, and are overtaken by the complete joy this album delivers.

Here's to all kinds of fun. in the future with this band.  I've been waiting for a band like this...

Chasing Another Super Bowl

I'm a life-long New York Giants fan.

That being said, this season has brought every emotion possible.  There have been rousing regular season wins (Patriots), horrible losses (Redskins...twice) and blueprints for later success (Packers).  The playoffs are a whole other emotion.  What a wild ride it has been leading up to another Super Bowl appearance for the New York Football Giants.

But my favorite story of this season is one that is largely forgotten...

Chase Blackburn's return to the NFL.

Math Teacher, Hard Hitting Linebacker

Blackburn was an undrafted pickup for the G Men in 2005, he was also part of their 2007 Super Bowl run (although he sported a different number, 57).  He was a hard hitting, hustling linebacker who for 4 straight seasons played in all 16 games.  But after the 2010 season he was an unrestricted free-agent and nobody picked him up.  He practiced with a couple teams, but eventually went on to teach middle school math (he graduated with a math degree from Akron).  His life after football had begun...until an injury and a phone call made him the final piece to the Deja-Blue puzzle the G Men needed to make it back to the Super Bowl.

Blackburn had spent the first 12 weeks of the season watching his former team struggle, through the ups and downs.  He wisely stayed in shape so when the Giants called, he answered physically and metaphorically.  A couple of hours after the phone call Blackburn was on a plane to NJ, practicing the next day and starting in the week 13 match up against the then undefeated Packers.  You couldn't script it better...a week prior Blackburn was picking equations to put on math tests for his middle schoolers, the next week he was picking off Aaron Rodgers to help the Giants give the Packers their first real test of the season and eventually knocking them off in the playoffs...a win that was largely sealed by a 40 yard fumble return by none other...Chase Blackburn.

Blackburn's 40 yard fumble recovery

I love watching the Giants.  I especially love the way on every play, defense or special teams, Chase Blackburn is somewhere to be found around the ball.  Whether it's making the tackle, being the first guy there to congratulate the Giant who did, or to pick them up, dust them off and give them the "we'll get 'em next time" helmet smack.  Just watch, he always has the dirtiest uniform on the field.

Welcome back Mr. Blackburn

As well all know this Super Bowl coming up is a rematch of Super Bowl XLII.  For Blackburn the only thing different for him is the number on his back.  His will, determination and toughness never changed.  He knows as well as anyone else, on any given Sunday your (new) number may be called to make a difference.

New number, same toughness

GO GIANTS!

P.S.
Eli is Elite.

5 for the road...aka an NFL Record

Justifying Justified

I don't have HBO anymore, I've never had Showtime, and I don't watch Breaking Bad.  Most people would agree the best show out there is on one of those two networks, or it is just...Breaking Bad.  But for me FX has done it again in creating my favorite show on TV, Justified.  Like with most of my favorite shows in the past (Dexter, Mad Men, Scrubs, Frasier) I came late to the game, and had to catch up on Seasons 1 and 2, which was no problem at all after the pilot.  This show is written sharper, shot grittier, acted better and laced with humor better than anything I've seen on TV since...well it's predecessor Nip/Tuck (possibly my favorite show of all time).
Timothy Olyphant (who has struck TV gold again after staring in the brilliant Deadwood) plays Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (a character created by novelist/screenwriter Elmore Leonard who appears in 2 of his novels and a short story).  This seems like the role Olyphant was born to play, and hopefully will have more than 3 Seasons to expand on this character.  He's just as likely to throw a joke your way, before a punch...but will then will follow with said punch.  But he's not just a gun totting cliche either.  Sure he wears a cowboy hat, boots, jeans and a bad tie...but he also is an oddly touching character who goes out of his way to make sure he protects everyone he cares for.  And this sometimes blurs his sense of right and wrong, and it's fascinating to see which way he decides to go.  His relationship with his father is also the most compelling and complicated father/son storyline I've EVER seen in a TV show.  He's a true lawman for the 21st Century and I live for characters like this...these are the kind of guys you root for.

TV's Biggest Badass: Marshal Raylan Givens

His Lennon to his McCartney is the absolutely brilliant Walter Goggins (who plays the morally grey Boyd Crowder).  I don't think I've hated a character more than I hated Boyd Crowder during his introduction in this pilot episode.  By the end of Season 1, he was one of my favorite characters on the show...now what does that say?  Interested yet??  He chews up the dialogue and scenery like it's good ol' fashioned spittin' tobacco. Walter Goggins has a couple awards in his future and his rocky back and forth character ride he takes us on is the most compelling storyline of Season 1.

Walter Goggins' Boyd Crowder

This is a show that is constantly bringing in new complex storylines as well as new complex characters.  It's rich with scenery and lush with moral dilemmas that confront those characters.  Oh and it also has the best gunfights around...

So...check out my favorite new show on TV.  You have until 10 pm tonight to catch up...GO!

Top 10 Movies of 2011

As Mike Portnoy has said before, there are no such thing as "bests" just "favorites"...


That being said here is a look at the AMAZING year of movies that was 2011 (and one possibly late 2010...).  To me this was the year of movie magic, which I'm a sucker for and the thing I look for most in movies.  It doesn't have to be critically acclaimed, or on a big budget, it needs to grab my soul.  And every single one of these movies did exactly that...


10. Somewhere

This one technically came out in select theaters December 22, 2010.  But it wasn't released until 2011, and took me a while to see it on DVD.  This is one of those movies that nothing really happens during, which of course can be dangerous, but when you cast the write people, and write the right words...magic happens.  This is the first of three movies that Elle Fanning appears on, and it's no coincidence.  She has a BRIGHT future ahead of her in the world of acting.  The father-daughter relationship that Sophia Coppola creates seems genuine and real.  Probably because she lived a life like this under her famous father Francis as a child.




9. War Horse

Steven Spielberg is such an icon and a joy to have making movies as a lover of movies myself.  The best scenes in this movie come when there is no dialogue.  Jeremy Irvine was key to making me care about a boy traveling around the world during World War I looking for his horse, and in the process becoming a man.  To me in the end it was that transformation from boy to man that made the movie worth watching, and provided that great Spielberg movie magic.  The final moments of the film are beautiful.


8. J. Edgar

Leo strikes again.  He is the master of the biopic (acting perfectly in Scorsese's Aviator as well, a personal favorite).  Clint Eastwood was the perfect director for this film because he lived through the subject matter.  He was there when J. Edgar was the pride of the country, the American Dream in a suit.  He was also there to witness the unraveling and self destruction, which makes for a great movie, but is also tragic when you  know it actually happened.




7. Contagion

This is one of the few films that truly frightens me.  It shows how terrifyingly easy it is for a disease to spread and ravage the human race.  It shows how quickly we become selfish violent animals to try to save our own skin...but...it also shows the wonders mankind can accomplish during it's darkest hour.  This is a movie of subtly.  A handshake there, a cough there.  Truly scary, but also truly uplifting as well.  Matt Damon (who I've always said plays the "every-man" better than anyone else) and Laurence Fishburne steal the show for me.  Matt Damon's first of two on the list.




6. Super 8

This movie was the start of this...movie magic kind of year.  This is a movie where the parents don't save the day, because they don't believe.  The kids are the heroes, they are the ones who teach us the lessons and opened my eyes to a younger version of myself making movies in the backyard and pretending to be whoever I wanted to be.  Elle Fanning makes her second appearance on the list (her final being number 1 on the list...), and totally steals our heart in this movie.  She breaks my heart throughout the movie, when she confesses in the glow of the home movies that is was her father who inadvertently caused the events that killed the main character's mother...heartbreaking.  J.J Abrams doesn't simply mimic Spielberg though, he creates moments and images that will stand along with Spielberg (the necklace held frozen in the air along with that single note of music, the water tower through the hole in the wall...).  I look forward to more of Abrams in the future.


5. Moneyball

Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill deserve the highest praise for this movie and Oscar nods at least!  Pitt is great at just being cool on screen.  Not hunky, "sexiest man of the year" cool, just...cool.  I am 100% a giant baseball fan, and have been my entire life, but this movie like Field of Dreams uses baseball as a topic to draw people into something greater...accomplishing the impossible, carving your place in the world, and making something of a lost opportunity.  I already knew the outcome of the A's season that year, I watched it, but I still sat transfixed, because I didn't know what was unfolding inside the clubhouse.  Baseball is romantic, it's America's Pastime, and this is one hell of a movie.  It's a real lump in the throat for not only fans of sports, but fans of the impossible.  Which should be everyone...because like this movie proves, nothing is impossible.


4. Drive

Ryan Gosling.  That is all.


No but seriously, the greatest actor of my generation, easy.  This movie provided a movie going experience like none other.  I was fully aware of what I was about to get into, but the majority of the theater was expecting a Fast and the Furious action pic...their opinion of the film was felt early on, until certain events transpired and they were just as locked in as I was.  This is a brilliant film...brilliant.  Heck of a soundtrack too!


3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I'm a huge fan of masked acting, and in a perfect world Andy Serkis would get the Oscar for Best Actor.  Anyone who gives this movie crap over "CGI monkeys" doesn't know anything about this movie, or the performance they are witnessing.  This movie is the biggest shocker on the year, because every time I saw the trailer I thought it would be nothing but possibly a fun "popcorn flick".  Wrong.  This movie is fascinating and compelling on the highest level.  This movie contains a scene that left me with my jaw wide open and goosebumps across my whole body.  The theater was completely stunned in silence. It took my breath away.  This is a movie I truly loved.  I can't wait for the sequel...


2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Ok.  Rooney Mara's performance is FLAWLESS.  Absolutely and completely compelling, tragic and perfect in every way.  What I loved about her performance so much was it was mostly done in her eyes, her silence, and her body language.  Her transformation was inspiring, and my Oscar for Best Actress goes to her, easy.  Oh and the movie is great as well!  There will be endless comparisons to the Swedish version and the book, which is expected.  But like the Swedish version it tries to pay homage to the reason for it's creation...the book.  It's cliche, but both are similar and different.  It was fun seeing Daniel Craig not be the hero of the movie, and see him in peril needing saving.  That Mara family is one talented bunch...dominating on the screen and on the football field (her Mom's side of the family owns the Steelers and her Dad's side of the family owns the New York Giants...GO G MEN.)


1. We Bought A Zoo

Cameron Crowe is my hero.  He makes movies void of cynicism and dread, because he knows sometimes we already have enough of that in our life.  He writes and directs like no one else.  I LOVE THIS MOVIE.  The scene where Matt Damon (second appearance on the list) goes through the slide show of his wife on his computer and relives their past with the song "Sinking Friendships" in the background is THE scene of the year.  Perfection.  I had a hard time realizing what my number 1 movie of the year would be until I realized that scene is everything I love about movies, everything.  The dialogue between the father and son are the best written scenes of the year.  Matt Damon's performance is second only behind Rooney Mara's as my favorite of the year.  The script was perfect, but it needed that performance to breath life into it, and Damon did exactly that.  Crowe also brings in his knowledge of music (unsurpassed by anyone) to the film and like every movie he's made perfectly places songs in scenes and lets them speak for themselves.  The soundtrack to this movie is not only my favorite of the year but one of my favorite ALBUMS of the year.  Jónsi (from the amazing band Sigur Rós) needs to be Crowe's John Williams.  I love this movie.  This is the kind of movie I live for.

20 Seconds of Insane Courage...

This isn't a review as much as it's a reaction to an amazing movie.  Pure inspiration and joy caused this outburst of Jerry Maguire-esqe rambling (I even had The Who's "Getting in Tune" playing in the background)...


So We Bought A Zoo was a knockout. With a Cameron Crowe movie you are guaranteed a couple things...

1) A great soundtrack and perfect music cues  
Only QT and PTA have come close to matching Crowe's perfect ear for using a moment of a song an actor.  His choices for the Vanilla Sky soundtrack alone should have gotten it a supporting actor credit.

2) Great performances from his actors  
Great directors bring out the best in their actors.  Simple.  Everyone he's worked with has seemed to come to the conclusion that they end up seeing a little of Crowe in their final acting product they put on the screen.  His talent and passion is contagious.

3) An amazing script
He has a way with conveying emotion that is more real to me than any other writer/director...ever.  I've always said nobody reads his lines better than Tom Cruise...well Tom might have found some stiff competition with Matt Damon.  The shouting scene between the father and son in We Bought A Zoo is written and acted so well you forget you're watching a movie.  It's as real as anything else you'll see this year.


4) A GREAT MOVIE!
Here's a couple of my favorite movies...that happen to also be films he wrote and directed...
We Bought A Zoo- See below...an easy Top 10 this year.
Elizabethtown- I enjoyed it the first time I saw it in theaters, but the second viewing was much more enjoyable in the end.  The epic couple hour long phone call between strangers played by Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst will forever bring me back to this movie over and over.
Vanilla Sky- One of my favorite movies of all time.  This is to me a true masterpiece.   I absolutely love everything about this movie.  Every cue of music is perfect.  That final climb in the elevator to David's conscience truth in the climax is perfect on every level (no pun intended...or maybe).
Almost Famous- I need to revisit this one soon, but this movie had me fall in love with Kate Hudson, much like Elizabethtown had me with Kirsten Dunst.  The fact that Cameron basically lived this life at that age is almost as amazing as the way he told it as an adult.
Jerry Maguire- Probably Crowe's greatest achievement overall...and it's all about a sports agent who grew a conscience.  Nobody on the planet could have played Jerry Maguire like Tom Cruise did.  The Oscar should have been his that year, along with Crowe for screenplay, film and director. It's a tie with Vanilla Sky for me for best of Crowe/Cruise.

So...whatever the definition of a soul is, he manages to always grab mine with his movies. His movies are beautiful. Matt Damon also plays the "every-man" better than anyone else around (he did it in Contagion as well this year). Everyone shines in this movie. Crowe engages everyone and infects them with whatever power he has to make everyone leaving his movies feel better about life, because there are already enough movies out there to show how bleak life can be. It's true, all we really need in life is 20 seconds of insane courage to accomplish something great. Crowe has been doing that his whole life.

How I became a monster: The unlikely transformation into a Lady GaGa fan

First of all a huge shout out to @SoPoeticPhil, he got me inspired to start writing again, check out his blog (Phil's blog)...

Ok...

I love music.  It is the one true love of my life when I stop and think about it.  Out of all the albums and bands I admire, there have always been three bands that I consider my cornerstones of music and inspiration to everyday life...

The Beatles

Queen

The Boss & the E Street Band

Those bands each build on achieving what I think is the ultimate goal in music and any profession you choose...fearlessness, an un-quenching creative flow that never quite climaxes, because it can't, and always asking the question, "Why not?"...i.e. never settling for the status quo.  ALWAYS pushing the envelope in whatever it is you're doing.

Well to be quite honest there is a part of me that feels disappointed in the music that is being put out nowadays, even though I hate the cynics who repeat that ever so annoying phrase, "Music was so much better in the ____ (fill in your decade of choice)".  So many musicians nowadays just seem to be satisfied with staying put and being safe.  I've been searching for bands and musicians that are striving to achieve that goal mentioned above.  Little did I know that I would find it in the Mother Monster herself, Lady Gaga.

Now it was no surprise for my friends to take a collective gasp when I announced that I had finally come to my senses that Lady Gaga is putting music on the right course.  To most people I'm seen as a metalhead, or an old school music lover who could never evolve to the music of today...

Well I surprised myself and my friends.  Now I'm not a huge fan of the meat dresses and the egg arrivals, but when I sat back and read her story, her inspirations (her name was taken from the monster Queen hit, Radio Ga Ga) and her goals I was taken aback.  Especially by this song...

EDGE OF GLORY-Lady Gaga

Here's a song that has an amazingly catchy and uplifting chorus...i.e. the first thing that hit me.  I'm a sucker for big sweeping arrangements, and big powerful voices.  Gaga's voice is so on point and strong throughout this song that it forces you to believe every single word that she sings.  Another thing that struck me about this song was her choice of guest musician...THE BIG MAN...Clarence Clemons!  She truly respects the rich history of music and choosing The Big Man to play with her was a stroke of genius and a great treat to us fans of his...especially because of his sudden passing this year.  It makes his solo even more triumphant because this is a song about claiming ownership over your life, so when you are breathing your final breath you can look back and realize that you were the champion of your own fate.  It is impossible not to feel that emotion during this song, and that is hard to accomplish for any musician to achieve.

I also took notice of her as a performer during the VMA's this year.  Dressed as her alter ego (Jo Calderone) and ripping through an thunderous version of You and I.  It also helped that she got guest guitarist Brian May to join her on stage to the delight of myself as well as a very excited Dave Grohl (who the cameraman happened to pick up at the moment of arrival).

Now I'm not calling Lady Gaga the savior of music, because frankly music doesn't need a savior.  There has always been good music out there, no matter how many auto-tuned future has beens arrive, there is always someone waiting in the corner to jump into the spotlight and shake the music industry up, which is what it needs every so often.  And that is what I'm trying to say about Lady Gaga.  I have a long way to go in terms of diving into her music catalog.  I've only really discussed one song, but a huge song none the less in terms of opening my eyes to a performer who is more than the outrageous outfits, more than the tabloids and taboos, more than the magazine covers and interviews, she's 100 percent true to herself and isn't satisfied with limiting her creativity to anyone.

She is fearless.

She pushes the envelope.

She refuses to accept the status quo.

...it also doesn't her she got Clarence Clemons and Brian May to guest on her album.

I've got my eye on you Gaga, but rest assured it is as a budding fan, not a cynic who thinks music's glory years are behind us, if anything we just might be on the edge of music's glory...the best is yet to come....always.